Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Ice Princess
So I think I probably know what you are thinking right now, "What on earth does a cheesy Disney movie have to do with our physics class." Well, as Margaret Anne and I were talking about in class, Ice Princess is the story of a girl who does a physics project on ice skating. So, to compare this to physics: we know that angular momentum is equal to the rotational inertia multiplied by the rotational velocity. As we talked about in class, when someone spins on skates, whether it's one the ice or at a roller rink, it will always be easier to spin faster when you have your hands and leg tucked in. This is because when you do this, more mass is distributed to the center of the axis of rotation. When this happens, we know that rotational inertia will be less than if you spread your leg and arms out, causing the mass to distributed towards the outside of the axis of rotation. Accordingly, because the rotational inertia is less, then the rotational velocity will be greater causing the skater to go faster.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I LOVED this example. I've never seen the movie but I have definitely heard about it and I love that you can find physics behind so many movies. I would just like to say that you have definitely inspired me to watch this movie. I also really liked your explanation, it was clear and precise. Although, we have talked about the ice skating situation a lot in class these past few days, I felt as though this explanation was a perfect summary for all that we have gone over in class. What other movies can you find physics to be a prominent part of the plot line?
ReplyDelete